Blog Response 15

Finishing up our collaborative project, I feel that we’ve successfully done a good job in getting the points of our work across.  Me and Jerry ended up using 16 pictures to include with our letter to Dr. Killebrew, and in our opinion they effectively demonstrate the diversity of what Texas A & M Corpus Christi has to offer.  The hardest part about the collaborative project was actually getting to 3,000 words (you don’t realize how many that is until you try and get there).  We knew we had to keep the letter to the President semi-short in length, since he is such a busy man and probably wont have time to mull over a long drawn out letter explaining every detail of our project.  The easiest part about doing this was actual the collaboration in my opinion.  With both of us taking photographs and utilizing Google Docs and Flickr, it was never really imperative for us to meet with each other and spend hours in the library collaborating.  With these specific online tools we were both able to work from home or school, upload pictures and “meet” with each other online, getting the project done easier by using our web 2.0 resources.

In retrospect, this class overall taught me a lot of new things about writing and the web that were previously unknown to me.  Before this semester I hadn’t ever heard of web 2.0 (though I’d been using some of it’s tools for a couple of years), and had no idea the benefits it’s products were to the writer of the 21st century.  It’s obvious after reading all the material we were presented with that this web platform is here to stay, and competence in using it will be critical for a writing or teaching job after graduation.  I have confidence that when I find a writing job in the future I’ll still be using some of these sites.

All in all it was a good semester, but I’m more than ready to graduate and get school out of my hair for good (at least for now)

Blog Response 14

So far in our project, me and Jerry have been keeping up to date on our project by continuing to take pictures of campus buildings, activities and campus life in general. We’ve got a draft started of our letter to Dr. Killebrew, the President of the university which basically has an introduction to this course and leads in to how this project reflects this course and the  goals of the project as well. In the 2nd paragraph were telling him the goals of our specific project and how we think it would benefit the campus as well as TAMUCC’s website in projecting a more well rounded picture of what TAMUCC means to the students, thus hopefully drawing in more prospective students.  Basically where were at now is focusing on finishing up our pictures and captions for them…and sometime in the near future we need to make decisions on which pictures to keep and use for the project and which ones to ditch.

Blog Response 12

Me and Jerry have been working on our project the past week, taking pictures around campus and getting idea’s of “extended captions” to come up with, as well as ideas for our letter to the President of the University.  So far we’re just taking pictures of everything possible…basically giving us a huge pool of prospect pictures to narrow down and choose the ones we best see fit to represent what our campus means to us.  While we aren’t taking pictures to fit into the mold of the outline under this, it is a general guideline that we want to ultimately achieve with our project.

Picture 1: atmosphere, pictures of the scenery

- Discuss how the scenery improves college experience, calming and relaxing , conducive to students improving educational performance.

Picture 2: students in class

- Doing work

- A place that effort is highly important and required

Picture 3: students working together & interacting in class

- Working together and learning to work together is important

Picture 4: Events and activities the school host

– Plays, readings, committee meetings

Picture 5: different subjects and majors

- In the classes of art, music and theater

Picture 6: library

- Students working on assignments and studying

Picture 7: getting assistance and tutoring

- Writing center, TLC

Picture 8: improvements to campus , new structures

– 2 new buildings being erected, improved baseball field, new weight room

Picture 9: sporting events

– Games, practice, etc.

Picture 10: ???

Letter to President:
-why the pictures on TAMUCC’s homepage don’t accurately portray everything this college is about and what it means to its students
-4 pictures on the homepage slideshow don’t relate to anybody
-why our pictures truly reflect the atmosphere of our campus

If anybody has any picture ideas they would like to see in the spread, comments are welcome!

Blog Response 11

Chris Anderson’s article about the newly coined term and rapidly emerging business model of “freeconomics”, titled “Free! Why $0.00 is the Future of Business” was an intriguing read on the progression of the business model that companies are starting to utilize – the value of free product.  It’s a confusing idea, but we see it all around us; free phones if you buy one, buy a toothbrush and get free floss, etc., etc., etc.. The fact is that this is working, and almost necessary now to make a buck in the every expanding technological world where almost anything is now possible.  As Anderson says, product is getting cheaper and cheaper with more and more competition, that something extraordinary has to be done by the producer to catch the consumer; that’s where “free” comes in.  He also states this simple fact – the difference between $0.01 and free is one cent. Only ONE penny! But that can also be the difference between a “conscientious decision to buy something, or get it for free”.

It’s quite astonishing though not unpredictable that the world would/has driven itself to this state; everybody’s fascination to find the cheaper route, the most advanced route, the easiest route, etc., has led to “free”. Outsourcing has led to it. Sweatshops have led to it. Most of all, the internet has led to it. Never would anybody think that the biggest most profitable website on the internet would come from a company that lets its users do everything for free, but there is Google proving us wrong. And by utilizing this tool, giving free information and usability to the populace, Google drives away competition. When advertisers see this flow of traffic they buy adspace. Google now becomes the internets biggest billboard, making enough money to run laps around Yahoo and other competitors, and still provide their products for free.

Capitalist and Anti-capitalists alike…no matter where you stand on this, must agree that it is amazing to see.

Healthcare Reform

Something important to me that’s in the news right now and has been for the past months is the new health care bill that was recently passed in Congress.  This bill is important to me for a number of reasons.  Most people around me know that I was raised as and still am a pretty conservative guy.  For months I’ve been researching and writing my representatives, etc. urging them to vote against the bill; the most important thing to me included in the bill is the inclusion of anti-gun rights that Senator Reid has tacked onto it, an inclusion that infringes our 2nd amendment rights granted to us by the Bill of Rights.

If (and probably when) this bill is passed, there is a subsection that will require gun owners to register to the Secretary of Regulations, much like a sex offender would. This information could be used to determine whether or not the applicant is “healthy” enough to own guns; this could prevent veterans with depression or PTSD from owning guns – people that have laid their lives on the line to defend the constitution could now be neglected from the rights granted by it.

Blog Response 9

Again revisiting the common topic of free information and copyright laws that we’ve seen in multiple articles (check previous blog posts), Wikinomics chapters,  as well as Bound By Law, the essay on Napster by Devoss and Porter brings us back to this topic yet again, though in a bit of a different way.  While the others have dealt with copyright laws dealing with filmmakers and recording artists, the essay by Devoss and Porter bring it down to our level – how these laws can and do affect us, the file sharer.  When Napster came around it was the first of its kind of file sharing programs that used the internet to download and pirate recorded music to a computer.  Once this was done the files downloaded to your computer became sharable to other users on the platform, making it a truly p2p (peer-to-peer) platform, creating a spider-web directory of users all interacting with another.  When this came under fire because of copyright infringements, it was not only Napster in the hot seat, but us – the users, as well; it was now apparent that we must take responsibility for our actions of downloading illegally, even if the platform made it seem okay to do so.

In addition to that, our next reading dealing with Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook also had to do with free information; in contrast to the priors though, this one was actually the masses, or users, versus the industry.  In this case, Facebook was drastically changed in 2006, allowing almost anybody access to anybody else’s personal information (information that most didn’t even realize they had posted until the change was made) by the new “news feed”.  Immediately there was an outcry and Zuckerberg was hoarded with emails of disdain and concern.  Suddenly everybody was wary of what was happening on the internet and who was seeing it, just as the case of Napster, when nobody really thought they could be persecuted for their actions.

These two articles continue the ongoing debate of what is/can be free, who can use what on the internet, etc.  While it seems that after all this time we would get closer to an answer, it remains just as ambiguous as ever in my mind.

Blog Response 8

Stuart Moulthrop’s article You Say You Want a Revolution? Hypertext and the Laws of Media was a very interesting piece if you compare its hinting at the technology we have today versus when it was written.  His talk of hypertext and the project Xanadu (the first hypertext project that according to wiki is still ongoing) by Ted Nelson was kind of a premonition to the problems we would face in the future on the internet such as linked sites, web platforms, search engines, hacking, etc. Most of his thinking was just theory because we weren’t at the same technological stage that we currently are at, so everything he wrote about was basically based on concept. Moulthrop started “writing in hypertext” before hypertext was possible by linking different words and ideas together, even if it was only between two or three computers, unlike the “spider web” network of the web that we’re used to today.  Still, this is phenomenal foreshadowing to the technology we have today.  The four main questions that Moulthrop poses in his essay dealing with hypertext are:

1. what does hypertext render obsolete?

2. what does hypertext enhance or intensify?

3. what does hypertext become when taken to its limit?

4. what does hypertext retrieve that was previously obsolete?

In my opinion hypertext renders almost all literature obsolete in a sense, since it would be available for all in one spot. It intensifies the user experience and the world experience as well, since everybody with access would be able to access the same information.  When taken to its limit? I’m not too sure, but I’m pretty sure the world wide web is ever expanding, thus hypertext is as well.  And what it retrieves that was previously obsolete in my opinion again is this notion of equal access to everything by all.

The article also delves into the ever popular topic of free information and copyright laws that we’ve been talking about in class a lot.  With this database of writings available to anyone it would create what we call a readers and writers utopia; meaning that all information we needed is available to us all the time.  This is almost to the T of what we have today with the internet, though there are these copyright laws that protect some pieces from being freely seen and used, while others remain open to us because of creative commons licenses, etc.

Blog Response 7

Since Nicholas Carr’s blog on “Free Information” was the odd man out in this set of readings/viewings, I’ll start with it (I say odd man out because though they all deal with free information on the web, Carr’s blog is technically about paying for the services to receive the information, not the information itself).  Finally a reading I can relate to!!!  I was pretty happy when I read this, because it is one of the things that frustrates me to no end – the AGE OF INFORMATION!  I couldn’t agree more with what Carr was saying in his blog, it is so ridiculous the amount of money (and time!) that people shell out for technology and information today.  Carr doesn’t explicitly state this opinion of mine in his post, but it is definitely related – he believes it’s absurd how much we pay to be informed, and I agree too, but it goes further than that.  I think it’s absurd the amount we pay for it in dollars, the amount of time we spend on it, the degree to which it controls our lives.  Why!?  This new age of information has made everybody that can access the web think that they’re opinion is desperately needed, and that is what gets to me more than anything.  Yes, it is cool that everyone is capable of being a reporter now, but this web 2.0 has made everybody think their opinion on the web is an inalienable right.  3/4 of the time I’m on a site with commenting allowed, all I read is bullshit that I don’t care about; “who cares!!!” comes to my mind almost every time.  Excuse my lack of professionalism on this subject, but I’m passionate about it.

Now to the next two subjects, that are very related.  Bound by Law and the Human Lobotomy video both deal with two very similar things – net neutrality and “freedom of information” (see link for definition).  Bound by Law was a refreshing read and is an interesting take on the graphic novel medium.  Dealing with copyright laws and freedom of information, BBL turned reading boring legislation into an interesting way to learn about laws that we might not be aware of.  It’s amazing the power that corporations and owners of song/video rights have over the content, and what’s also extremely amazing is the amount of money that they’re able to charge for usage of that material.  Net neutrality on the other hand is kind of like the internet based freedom of information.  Advocates for net neutrality believe that all content on the web should be free (content, not services to use the content), like it is now.   Many of the major web based companies support net neutrality, and don’t agree with one or a few major companies being able to control what their users can access.  Those opposed to net neutrality think that corporations should be able to control what pages users can view, what information they can access, etc.  In this way, it would be kind of like a monopoly on the internet – one or a few corporations controlling a significant part of the industry.

Blog Response 6

Bush’s article “As We May Think” was shocking to say the least.  I don’t really even know where to begin in speaking of it.  First of all, I guess I would like to comment on the fact that Vannaver Bush helped create the technology for atomic bombs, which helped us win WWII; so we know that this man must have been an extreme genius.  That coupled with his research (I guess you can call it that?) or proposal of the “memex” device is astonishing at an age where a computer was merely a thought at best.

Bush’s concept of the memex obviously led me to think of modern day machinery, such as a computer, the internet, usb drives, etc.  His talk of being able to view multiple images on the same screen and have links that link to other information are way ahead of his time.  But ultimately it goes even deeper than that.  His concept of this machine, storage device, whatever you want to call it was way more complex than just a computer.  It is literally the technology that we use and access today.  Technology that you can even say relate to the Wikipedia (mass volumes of encyclopedias cut down in size with links running throughout) which is as he calls it “ready made” by thousands upon thousands of users daily.  Other websites that were popping into my head as i read were those such as Delicious – a single source where a multitude of knowledge and accessibility is right at your fingertips.  Sites such as WordPress, Facebook, Twitter and any other “blogging” type atmosphere where commenting is availiable.

I looked up some information on Bush and it appears that he started the groundwork on some projects that were eventually invented such as the mouse and the word processor.  Combine that with his groundbreaking work on the atomic bomb and it’s obvious that Americans have a lot of thanks to give to Vannevar Bush (depending on how you view the invention of nuclear warfare )

Blog Response 5

The Turkle article title “Who are We” was one that doesn’t so much ‘hit close to home’ as one would say of something they’ve experienced themselves, but perhaps ‘hits close to the community’ – meaning the MUD’s, games, alternate realities on the web, etc., that she is talking about is something that I’ve seen my friends and peers participating in for as many years as I can remember.  It started out with computer games (before the internet took off, like Everquest, etc. – don’t remember exactly, I didn’t play them!), and turned into a huge thing when games like the Sims came out, then of course blew up quicker than anyone could imagine when World of Warcraft and other “alternative reality” games” came to the surface.  When the internet started becoming something more than a research machine, people began forming their own online identities.

Programs such as your everyday email, AOL Instant Messanger, and Xanga let people express things on the web that they wouldn’t normally have expressed.  It could’ve been that feeling of anonymity or the false courage the barrier of a computer screen gives you, letting you type something that you wouldn’t normally say in face to face conversation; whatever it was the masses sucked it up.  When RPG’s (role playing games) got integrated from video game platforms to online play with other real humans, people were able to extend their online persona into the gaming world, furthering their online identity in an alternate reality.  I don’t know for sure, but I guess there is a comfort in this practice that users don’t feel in everyday life.  As Turkle puts it, “life on the screen permits us to project ourselves into our own dramas, dramas in which we are producer, director, and star…. Computer screens are the new location for our fantasies, both erotic and intellectual. We are using life on computer screens to become comfortable with new ways of thinking about evolution, relationships, sexuality, politics, and identity.”

Moving onto websites such as “we feel fine” it’s easy to see that this computer screen indeed does offer a sort of anonymous protective barrier to the users.  While many people build up their alternative identities by participating in multiple online programs, others revel behind an identity because it’s comforting to them to remain unknown, such as users of “we are fine” and postsecret”.  The “we are fine” website was interesting to me, and as far as web 2.0 and graphic design go, obviously way ahead of the pack.  In my opinion it is a really cool idea and a ideal outlet for people who otherwise can’t express these posted emotions to people in real life for whatever reason.  On the other hand the website was way too overwhelming for me to try and comprehend, and I found it intimidating and nerve wracking to even try and figure it out, so the time I spent on it was minimal.